Have I Got Enough?

My experience is that most people seem to get a mental block when it comes to pensions. It’s a word that seems to make us freeze in the headlights.

So how does one get that all important clarity? How do you get to a place where you can see how it’s all going to look for you? Well, there’s a process you can follow which certainly should help.

Your ‘Current’ Spending?A lot of us think we have a pretty good idea of what our current lifestyle is costing us. You probably know if you’re living within your means or not, but does that mean you know what you’re ACTUALLY spending your money on? Getting to know what you’re spending might not be top of your to-do list but it’s vital to have this clarity.

Take some time to work it out. Yes, that will mean going through your bank statements with a strong coffee (or something stronger!) and really getting to know your spending habits. Once you get your head around it, you should find it quite enlightening, I promise!

Your ‘Have Fun’ SpendingWhen you finish work (or, what we call become financially independent), you’ll enter the ‘have fun’ stage of your life. This is when you’ll want to do all the things you wanted to but couldn’t because you were working.

Think about your life after work and what it will cost. Do a similar exercise of looking at your spending as you did just now, but adjust it to what life might look like. There’s going to be a fair amount of guessing but that’s OK, it’s still valuable.

Your ‘Too Old’ SpendingThis will happen to us all. You’re going to get to a point where you can’t quite do what you used to be able to. Your knees have gone and getting up the stairs might be a challenge, let alone a mountain. This is the ‘too old’ stage of your life.

Think again about what your spending during this stage will look like. Typically, your spending will go down because you’re not able to do as much.

Your Guaranteed IncomeWe’ll all have some guaranteed income after work. For some, it might just be the state pension. For others, it might also be a final salary pension. Guaranteed income is the income that won’t change, regardless of what happens in the financial world. It’s secure, reliable income.

You need to know what this income will be because it’s going to contribute to your ‘have fun’ and ‘too old’ spending stages. It’s the foundation of your future security.

Filling the GapThere’s usually a gap between your future spending and your guaranteed income. Your other resources (private pensions, investments, cash, etc.) are there to fill the gap.

We need to know how big this gap is and if your other resources can plug it. This is so IMPORTANT because, if the gap can’t be filled, there’s going to be problems. You might need to reduce your lifestyle in the future or even work longer which isn’t great. That said, it’s important to know.

Keeping Things SharpSo, we know what you think you’ll be spending. We know what guaranteed income you have. We know if your other resources can cover the gap. This is all good stuff. Another important thing to do is to squeeze the most out of your resources to make them as efficient as possible.

This will include such issues as making sure:

They’re tax-efficient

The costs are reasonable

You have all the flexibility you need

There are others, but I won’t bore you!

Yes, this part is a bit technical but it’s important to get it right. Poorly arranged resources can have a big impact on their ability to fill ‘the gap’.

It Will All Be Wrong!I’m asking you to make a bunch of assumptions with your spending. I’m asking you to assume nothing unexpected will happen in the future. I’m asking you… to live like a robot!

Of course, one certainty of life is that nothing’s certain so it’s impossible to predict what’s going to happen. That said, it makes a lot of sense to me to have some sort of plan and to review it regularly to ensure you’re really well placed to adapt when the unexpected arrives at your door.

It’s My Problem Too!I hope I don’t come across as a ‘know-it-all’. I’m certainly not. The steps I’m suggesting you take are the steps I’m taking myself and it’s not easy!

I’m thinking about what I want my future life to look like. I’m considering what my spending is (and what it will be), I’m looking at what my guaranteed income will be and what other resources I have to fill the gap. What I’m talking about here is stuff we’re ALL going through.

We’re talking about life so we’re talking about uncertainty but having some sort of idea of what you want the future to look like and knowing if your financial arrangements can take care of it is an empowering process to go through.

What A Load of Waffle?You might think this process won’t help. You might feel everything’s going to be OK. That’s completely fine. Trouble is, if you don’t plan, you’ll only find out when you get there, and you could be wrong! I think it’s better to know in advance.

If you pull a tigers tail, just because it doesn’t bite you, doesn’t mean it’s not risky!

Latest News

Follow Us

Find us on these social networks:

Brighton Financial Ltd is Registered in England and Wales. Registered number 05658950. We are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (registration number is 583343) which you can check at www.register.fca.org.uk. The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) is an agency for arbitrating of unresolved complaints between regulated firms and their clients. Full details of the FOS can be found on its website www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk. The information contained in this website is targeted at UK consumers. Privacy Notice

Brighton Financial Cookie Policy
Last updated: May 17th 2018
Brighton Financial (“us”, “we”, or “our”) uses cookies on the website www.brightonfinancial.co.uk (the “Service”). By using the Service, you consent to the use of cookies.
Our Cookies Policy explains what cookies are, how we use cookies, how third-parties we may partner with may use cookies on the Service, your choices regarding cookies and further information about cookies.

What are cookies
Cookies are small pieces of text sent by your web browser by a website you visit. A cookie file is stored in your web browser and allows the Service or a third-party to recognize you and make your next visit easier and the Service more useful to you.
Cookies can be “persistent” or “session” cookies.

How Brighton Financial uses cookies
When you use and access the Service, we may place a number of cookies files in your web browser. We use cookies for the following purposes: to enable certain functions of the Service, to provide analytics, to store your preferences, to enable advertisements delivery, including behavioural advertising.
We use both session and persistent cookies on the Service and we use different types of cookies to run the Service:
– Essential cookies. We may use essential cookies to authenticate users and prevent fraudulent use of user accounts.
Third-party cookies
In addition to our own cookies, we may also use various third-parties cookies to report usage statistics of the Service, deliver advertisements on and through the Service, and so on.

What are your choices regarding cookies
If you’d like to delete cookies or instruct your web browser to delete or refuse cookies, please visit the help pages of your web browser. Please note, however, that if you delete cookies or refuse to accept them, you might not be able to use all of the features we offer, you may not be able to store your preferences, and some of our pages might not display properly.

Last updated: May 17th 2018
Brighton Financial (“us”, “we”, or “our”) uses cookies on the website www.brightonfinancial.co.uk (the “Service”). By using the Service, you consent to the use of cookies.
Our Cookies Policy explains what cookies are, how we use cookies, how third-parties we may partner with may use cookies on the Service, your choices regarding cookies and further information about cookies.

What are cookies
Cookies are small pieces of text sent by your web browser by a website you visit. A cookie file is stored in your web browser and allows the Service or a third-party to recognize you and make your next visit easier and the Service more useful to you.
Cookies can be “persistent” or “session” cookies.

How Brighton Financial uses cookies
When you use and access the Service, we may place a number of cookies files in your web browser. We use cookies for the following purposes: to enable certain functions of the Service, to provide analytics, to store your preferences, to enable advertisements delivery, including behavioural advertising.
We use both session and persistent cookies on the Service and we use different types of cookies to run the Service:
– Essential cookies. We may use essential cookies to authenticate users and prevent fraudulent use of user accounts.
Third-party cookies
In addition to our own cookies, we may also use various third-parties cookies to report usage statistics of the Service, deliver advertisements on and through the Service, and so on.

What are your choices regarding cookies
If you’d like to delete cookies or instruct your web browser to delete or refuse cookies, please visit the help pages of your web browser. Please note, however, that if you delete cookies or refuse to accept them, you might not be able to use all of the features we offer, you may not be able to store your preferences, and some of our pages might not display properly.

Where can you find more information about cookies
You can learn more about cookies and the following third-party websites:
● AllAboutCookies: http://www.allaboutcookies.org/
● Network Advertising Initiative: http://www.networkadvertising.org/

Last updated: May 17th 2018
Brighton Financial (“us”, “we”, or “our”) uses cookies on the website www.brightonfinancial.co.uk (the “Service”). By using the Service, you consent to the use of cookies.
Our Cookies Policy explains what cookies are, how we use cookies, how third-parties we may partner with may use cookies on the Service, your choices regarding cookies and further information about cookies.

What are cookies
Cookies are small pieces of text sent by your web browser by a website you visit. A cookie file is stored in your web browser and allows the Service or a third-party to recognize you and make your next visit easier and the Service more useful to you.
Cookies can be “persistent” or “session” cookies.

How Brighton Financial uses cookies
When you use and access the Service, we may place a number of cookies files in your web browser. We use cookies for the following purposes: to enable certain functions of the Service, to provide analytics, to store your preferences, to enable advertisements delivery, including behavioural advertising.
We use both session and persistent cookies on the Service and we use different types of cookies to run the Service:
– Essential cookies. We may use essential cookies to authenticate users and prevent fraudulent use of user accounts.
Third-party cookies
In addition to our own cookies, we may also use various third-parties cookies to report usage statistics of the Service, deliver advertisements on and through the Service, and so on.

What are your choices regarding cookies
If you’d like to delete cookies or instruct your web browser to delete or refuse cookies, please visit the help pages of your web browser. Please note, however, that if you delete cookies or refuse to accept them, you might not be able to use all of the features we offer, you may not be able to store your preferences, and some of our pages might not display properly.

Where can you find more information about cookies
You can learn more about cookies and the following third-party websites:
● AllAboutCookies: http://www.allaboutcookies.org/
● Network Advertising Initiative: http://www.networkadvertising.org/

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. Cookie PolicyOk